A Chinese-American suspected of spying for Taiwan will soon be
headed to court, Beijing's Global Times reported on Monday.
An investigation revealed that he had been involved in spying
against the mainland, and that most of his espionage activities had
taken place in the US.?
David Wei Dong (Chinese name Dong Wei), was arrested last
September shortly after he arrived on the mainland and is being
held in Guangzhou, according to the China Daily.
Dong, 52, a former Chinese state media correspondent in Sichuan
Province, went to study in the United States in July 1986 and
was self-supported. He received permanent residency status in 1987
and became a US citizen in 1995.
The Global Times reports that Dong began receiving money
from Taiwan's spy agency and providing large amounts of
information, including diplomatic secrets, in 1990. Activities
included collecting confidential information revealed at
closed-door meetings of the central government. The paper reported
that Dong received remuneration of US$3,000 per month from the
Taiwan spy agency and US$7,000 as an expense fund. He also accepted
a house valued at US$268,000 from the agency.
The report indicated that Dong was recruited by Taiwanese Peter
Wang, then a key figure with the military intelligence bureau under
the Taiwan "ministry of national defense." Wang was later
affiliated with Taiwan's top intelligence agency, the "national
security bureau," as a special agent in the United States.
China formally informed the United States embassy and consulate
last September, according to the Global Times. The paper
also said US officials have visited Dong nine times since then.
The United States Embassy in Beijing Tuesday declined to comment
on the case.
A China Daily source indicated that the case is still
being investigated.
The Chinese mainland has announced arrests over the past two
years of several groups of Taiwanese and mainlanders on spying
charges.
Yang Jianli, a Chinese national serving as a research fellow at
Harvard University in the US, was sentenced to five years in prison
and deprived of political rights for one year after being convicted
of espionage and illegal border crossing. The Beijing No. 2
Intermediate People's Court handed down its ruling in May this
year.
Earlier this month, Taiwanese Sung Hsiao-lien (Song Xiaolian)
was convicted by a court in Hainan
Province of receiving money from Taiwan's military spy agency
and providing information on unspecified "military conditions."
Sung, who was sentenced to four years in prison, was among seven
Taiwanese detained late last year and charged in January with
spying.
The mainland announced last December that it had detained 24
Taiwanese and 19 mainlanders on spying charges and that all had
confessed.
(China Daily July 28, 2004)